Nick's POV
We managed to find our way back to the campground. Clara must have been shielding this place from our vision, that's how she was able to make us disappear.
"The bus! It's back!" Piper cheered for joy, we all smiled and sighed in relief. We can finally go home. We hopped on the bus and headed home. It was hours before we finally reached the school. It was as if nothing ever happened.
Everyone was mourning the deaths of the fallen. Unfortunately, they thought we were dead too. In fact, there wasn't a trace of us anywhere.
"Today is a sad day which would've been happy had it not been for the devastating explosion that left our senior class and twenty staff members dead three months ago."
"Did he just say three months?" Wren questions uneasily, Beth nods. "Clara must have put us in a never ending loop. So to us it felt like a couple weeks. When in reality it was months. We should go up there. We need to let our families know that we survived."
We made our way to the stage but it was as if nobody was fazed by our presence. "I am now going to read the names of the fallen that will forever be remembered. Samuel Anderson, Danielle Baker..." Everything was going fine until he said the last few names.
"Dominic Carter, Ethan Carter, Bethany Johnson, Lauren Underwood, Piper Richards, Grayson Samuels, Kyle Lawrence."
"What are you talking about? We're right here!" Piper shouts, pushing our principal. He doesn't budge. "It's like they can't see us-"
"That is because they can't. The spell Miss Bennet put on you all became permanent which makes you creatures that don't actually exist therefore nobody can see or hear you." A guy in a white cloak says mysteriously. We all jump when we see him.
"Who the hell are you?" Gray shouts. He was scared, we all were. And if we knew it was going to be years before we were able to talk again, we would've spent our time saying goodbye.
"I am part of the Royals. We are a league that teaches those with abilities to fight. You six have been enrolled." All of a sudden, other men and women in white cloaks appeared behind us and grabbed us.
Wren was the first to try to fight, but instead she got knocked out by one of the white cloaks. All the woman did was wave her hand in Wren's face and she immediately fell asleep.
"Get off of me!" Kyle shouted, trying to break away from the hold as well. Wren was the first to disappear, the Royal who knocked her out took her. I started to get angry.
"What did you do to her?" I snapped, the Royal holding me sighed. "She's safe, as all of you will soon be."
Kyle, Gray and Beth were next to go. Piper was kicking and screaming as they took her. "NO! MOM! HELP ME PLEASE!" The sad thing is, her mom was sitting right in front of her, but she couldn't hear her scream or cry for help.
I threw a punch at the guy holding me. In response he knocked me out like the woman did to Wren. I woke up in a bed with a boy who looked a couple years younger smiling at me.
"Hello roomie."
"Ugh! Where the fuck am I?" I grabbed my head after feeling like needles were being put in my brain. "Shh. Watch your language. If they hear you talking like that they'll send you to the pit."
"The pit? Where are we?"
"The Royal academy." Holy shit. I need to find Wren and the others!
"How do I get out of here?" My roommate shakes his head, looking at me as if I just asked a child where babies come from. "There is no way out until you finish your training. Depending on your abilities, you could graduate early."
"How long have you been here?"
"My whole life. I'm thirteen. I was one of the rare ones who got their powers at birth." My mouth hangs open. "What about my friends? When can I see them?"
"There's no time for socializing. We have training all day and then all meals are in our rooms. You aren't gonna see them for awhile."
"No no no. I need to see my girlfriend, she can't be alone. Not after everything we just faced back at the camp." He looked at me as if a lightbulb switched on in his head.
"You and your friends are the chosen six aren't you? The ones who fought the evil witch. You're the ones who she turned! Oh my gosh this is awesome!"
"I hate to interrupt your fanboy moment, but how do you know me?" I ask uneasily, he laughs. "Everyone knows who you are. You're all practically famous here. You are all humans turned by a witch, another rare species just like myself. Most of the people here get their powers by breaking a curse, but in your case you got your powers by getting cursed."
"So how exactly can I get out of here?"
"Good behavior, and perfection of abilities. You'll learn to control your abilities and help them grow. You'll most likely graduate within a year."
He was wrong.
It took six years to graduate from that place. Nobody had connection. I still don't know where any of my friends are. When you graduate from the academy you get sent to fight enemies with a team, however you don't know who the team is. I am currently in LA, looking for my team and most importantly, my target.
I took out my phone and read the mission status:
Target is tall, male, and has abilities such as manipulation of elements. Status; Vampire
As I waited to scope around, I noticed a familiar looking girl. Her hair was short, but she had the same face. "Wren?" She froze in her tracks.
"Nobody has called me that in years. Nicky is that you?" I felt a huge smile spread across my face as I ran to hug her. I picked her up, twirled her around, and gave her a kiss. "Don't you ever leave me again."
I had finally found her. And I know for a fact that I'm never letting her go.
"Where are the others? Have you seen them?" I question, she shakes her head. "Every time I mentioned the others, the Royals would do something bad... It was horrible."
"I won't let them hurt you-"
"It doesn't matter Nick. They controlled us for years. Once we graduate we're free, yet we still get sent on missions to kill each other. It's only a matter of time before they send one of us to kill the other. There's no escape. I think I would've liked it better if we had that future our old selves were supposed to have. I don't understand what went wrong." A tear fell down her face, I wiped it away and kissed her forehead.
"There was nothing else we could've done. Once we killed Clara, her cloaking spell on us became permanent and we were taken away from existence-"
"But we shouldn't have to be warriors of the Royals. We learned how to control our abilities by being tortured! That scarred me even worse than before Nick. We should be able to go and live our lives free, it's not fair."
"I agree." We were interrupted by a familiar voice. It sounded like Kyle, but the look in his eyes were blank. It was as if he was dead and felt nothing.
"Kyle?"
"The one and only. And after everything we've done to save ourselves, we deserve to be able to run off and be free. We deserve to live a happy life, but we don't get that. Six years. They have had us locked away for six years claiming to be teaching us responsibility but it's all bullshit. I say we find the others, kill our targets, and get the hell away from Royals academy." Wren and I both looked at him curiously. He knows what will happen if we stray.
"The academy is a good idea. Even if they do what they did to make us learn to control our abilities and teach us the difference between good and evil. Straying away from the Royals could be lethal for us." Wren replied angrily. I couldn't help but wonder what they did to her that was so bad. Normally she would jump at the chance to be free and uncontrolled. Why is she being like this?
"So what if it's lethal? Don't you see, we're all dead already. Or at least I am. After everything we went through back at the camp, it just seemed to get worse and worse. Our families think we're dead, we all got separated, and now we're stuck fighting all our childhood fucking fairytales!" I honestly feel for Kyle. He's angry, I get that, but he has to pull it together.
"What if we all help each other? My target is a vampire-"
"Mine too."
"Same here. Male?" Wren adds on, Kyle and I nod. Holy shit. Are we each other's teammates?
Kyle was the first to get angry when realization hit him. "What kind of sick and twisted shit is this? Do they think that just because we killed Clara, it means we are going to keep killing our enemies together?"
"What if we didn't kill her?" I question anxiously. They both turned to look at me as if I had three heads. "I'm pretty sure we all saw what happened."
"Well then it has to be something-"
"Damn it Nicky why must everything be an explanation for you? Some things are just shit for certain people. Those people are us! We went through this six years ago and it's happening again. Whatever the fuck Clara did to us is permanent which means we have to live with this forever. As much as I love you, I refuse to go back to that camp." There was a look of fear in her eyes and that pained me. But deep down I knew that Kyle was right. If we don't get out of here we're good as dead, but then again if we do then we'll spend our lives on the run. It's a lose-lose situation.
"Well we need a plan so what do you suppose we do?" Kyle snaps, I smile at the thought of my plan. "We find the others."
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If you thought their story was going to end at the camp you're wrong. It's only just beginning. I hope you're enjoying the story.
-Jen